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Linux 3.5 Can Massively Boost AMD Radeon Graphics

06-07-2012, 08:20 AM

Phoronix: Linux 3.5 Can Massively Boost AMD Radeon Graphics

The Linux 3.5 kernel is capable of delivering some massive performance gains for some of the more recent generations of ATI/AMD Radeon graphics processors. Here's some benchmarks showing the hefty performance gains found when using the latest kernel that is still being developed.

That's impressive. Here I thought that only small improvements are left to gain, but no! I am happy for this development. Keep up the good work, guys. I also hope for open drivers to follow the path of workstation quality drivers. I mean "no lossy optimizations".

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All the bad news about AMD Radeons, and now comes the strawberries and cream.

I've always purchased Radeons, but I sometimes play Everquest and the graphics messes up with this line of gfx cards. I was thinking of going Nvidia for a season. What will sway me is the price of the GFX660 and AMD's public relations and driver quality. I will be upgrading when GFX660 comes out and it will vs the HD7870 or possibly the HD7950 if the prices have shifted. Looking to spend about $280-350AUD.

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Well, in opposition to the hype I've seen in the article, I'll take a more "conservative" approach: when 3.5 stable arrives, I'll give a new try to the FOSS ATI drivers (I went back to catalyst because of VAAPI and proper PM). From what I've seen, we'll have better 3D performance from now on (but does that apply to r600/r700 cards? I didn't see any card of that generation tested in the article...).

Furthermore, I'm also expecting that the "default" profile will stop using always the maximum frequency of the GPU, because that kills the GPU lifetime. (Nouveau does the opposite, btw...)

Finally, in the medium/long run, It'd be nice to have H.264 VDPAU/VAAPI/UVD acceleration. That wold be nice for those who still have weak CPUs (e.g. AMD E-350/Low-End Llanos/Nehalmen Core2Duos).

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When can we expect to see some results where the OS graphics drivers can compete with the FGLRX binaries?
Also, we can we expect some benchmark comparisons? I'd love to switch to the OS drivers on my AMD ASUS 6950 DC II .
Can and will it ever support eyefinity?

AFAIK the core Eyefinity functionality (lots of screens working together) is available today in the open drivers. Some of the proprietary features, eg automated bezel compensation and convincing the games to keep their HUD on one screen) are not available, although I think you can use randr functions for bezel compensation.